Jimmy Carter told the new Web site Guardian America that, compared to the Bush presidency at least, George W. Bush will make a “very good” ex-president. Carter also said of Hillary Clinton’s seemingly insurmountable lead in the polls: “One thing I know is that, this far ahead of time in the past, it’s been impossible to predict the outcome of the election.”

Those who went to the Values Voter Summit left without a candidate to call their own. But the lack of a golden boy isn’t their only problem: There are signs of ideological rigor mortis among the old guard.

The senator rarely surrenders a juicy quote without a struggle. Yet her familiar preference for caution over candor is gradually changing with each step that she takes toward her party’s presidential nomination.

Former Sen. Mike Gravel’s campaign released this video after the candidate was barred from NBC’s upcoming debate in Philadelphia. Is it just a coincidence that the network is owned by GE, which has a profit incentive for war? Gravel doesn’t seem to think so.

Hillary Clinton may be the front-runner, but her campaign has been doing a bit of damage control in Iowa over the senator’s vote to declare Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization, a move critics believe is a prelude to war with Iran. Clinton sent out a mass mailing explaining her vote and insisting that she opposes military action “without full Congressional approval.”

I don’t know Al Gore’s plans, but here’s what I’d tell him to do if he wants to be president: Ignore New Hampshire and Iowa. Hope Hillary fizzles. Bet the house on early February when the big states have their primaries, and he could win the biggest, California.

Appearing on “The Tonight Show,” Barack Obama tells Jay Leno that he’s not worried about Hillary Clinton’s sizable lead in the polls: “Hillary is not the first politician in Washington to declare ‘mission accomplished’ a little too soon.”

As if he’s already secured the nomination, Rudy Giuliani has begun to focus his vitriol on the other party’s presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton: “I don’t know Hillary’s experience. She’s never run a city.” It’s been a long, long time since we’ve had an ex-mayor occupying the Oval Office. Maybe Giuliani is on to something here. There just has to be some parallel between being a mayor and the leader of the world’s only superpower.

One of the few things the Republican and Democratic presidential contests have in common is the relentlessness with which candidates on both sides are wrapping themselves in orthodoxy. Heretics need not apply.

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama is striking a chord among middle-class black voters, notes Boyarsky, who looks into Obama’s fundraising successes among that demographic as an entrée into “an African-American political landscape seldom visited by journalists.”

They’re gone! How to describe the euphoria, the smug satisfaction, the unrestrained elation at seeing the New York Yankees eliminated once again so early in postseason play? I’m thinking something silly, like, Eureka!

Jimmy Carter was en fuego during a chat with Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday, blasting the Bush administration for torturing people, the GOP candidates for racing to the fringe and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for refusing to commit to a full withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

In case you think conservative Christians are just bluffing with their threats to split from the Republicans, take a gander at this clip of Sean Hannity begging James Dobson to support Rudy Giuliani. Dobson refuses, standing on principle and the promise of a more frenzied and loyal base under a Clinton presidency.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination is picking up steam. She has widened her lead over Barack Obama by an impressive 33 points, according to the latest Washington Post/ABC poll.

With Hillary Clinton well ahead of the Democratic pack in the polls and Republican candidates scrambling to demonstrate who is best able to defeat her, the question isn’t whether America is ready for a woman president but rather can anyone stop her.

The former president calls BS on the Republicans for their “feigned outrage” over MoveOn’s “General Betray Us” ad: “Come on, these Republicans that are all upset about Petraeus ... these are the people that ran a television ad in Georgia with Max Cleland, who lost half his body in Vietnam, in the same ad with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. ... And the person that rode to the Senate on that ad was there voting to condemn the Democrats over the Petraeus ad.”

Yes, you heard it right: At the Dartmouth College debate Wednesday evening, not one of the three leading Democratic candidates could pledge that all U.S. combat troops would be out of Iraq by the end of his or her first term as president.

Hillary Clinton shored up her left flank during an interview with Tim Russert, promising to vote against continued funding for the war in Iraq. Still, one must be wary of caveats such as “at the level we’ve seen.”

If there’s any candidate who knows what he or she would be dealing with in attempting to change the American healthcare system, it’s Hillary Clinton. And, according to Boyarsky, charging into that particular political battleground might have made her a stronger contender.

The former president tells Jon Stewart about his new book, his wife’s quest to get back to “the best public housing in America,” why he might slit his throat if she’s successful, and how naps can save our democracy.

Here is why the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination seems so peculiar: Political campaigns are normally about highlighting differences, but never have the philosophical distinctions among Democratic candidates been so small.

Hillary Clinton’s skillful introduction of her new health care plan demonstrated why she is the most formidable Democrat running for president. It also suggested that if victorious, she won’t be defeated so easily by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries as she and her husband were the last time they tried to reform the dysfunctional American medical system.

The genius of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign has been her skill at turning liabilities into assets and weaknesses into strengths. By putting out a detailed health care plan on Monday, Clinton embarked on this year’s most daring act of political jujitsu.

Hillary Clinton’s health care proposal won’t please progressives looking to do away with corporate insurance or conservatives who prefer unaffordable micromanaged care to government “bureaucracy,” but at least it’s a step in the right direction.

Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani tried to diss The New York Times, Sen. Hillary Clinton and MoveOn.org all at once by placing his own advertisement in the paper to counter MoveOn.org’s critique of Gen. David Petraeus, claiming The Times had played favorites with their ad sales policy.

Not to be deterred by new developments in digital technology, the FBI laid the groundwork for its current DCSNet (Digital Collection System Network) wiretapping system during the Clinton years, allowing agents to just point ‘n’ click their way into the nation’s land lines, cell phones and Internet telephony networks.

Responding to recent comments by top American politicians—Sens. Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin in particular—calling for his replacement, embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki voiced some critical words of his own.

Hillary Clinton has added her voice to a growing chorus blaming the lack of progress in Iraq on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Uninspired by President Bush’s expression of renewed confidence in the embattled PM, Clinton said she hopes the Iraqi parliament will oust Maliki when it returns from its vacation.

The recent parade of political tourists to Iraq, during which easily impressed pundits and members of Congress came to be dazzled by the wonders of the troop surge, probably ensures that this murderous adventure will continue well into the next presidency—even if the Democrats win.

What in the world was Sen. Hillary Clinton thinking when she attacked Sen. Barack Obama for ruling out the use of nuclear weapons in going after Osama bin Laden? And why aren’t her supporters more concerned about yet another egregious example of Clinton’s consistent backing for the mindless militarism that is dragging this nation to ruin?

A new Clinton campaign ad has the White House crying foul, and Clinton crying “Tough!” The commercial features the candidate saying that struggling families and troops are “invisible” to the president. Deputy press secretary Dana Perino said the claim is “outrageous” and that “it is unconscionable that a member of Congress would say such a thing,” which prompted this retort from Clinton: “Not only have I said it and am saying it, I will keep saying it because I happen to believe it.” Update: video added.

In what may have been one of the most controversial (and contradictory) missteps made yet in this pre-election season, Hillary Clinton refused, however ambiguously, to rule out using nuclear weapons to combat terrorists in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Though the media at large barely registered her comment, it wasn’t lost on Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who takes Clinton to task in an exclusive interview with Truthdig.

Miss Tuesday night’s AFL-CIO Democratic debate? Or just want to relive the magic? Well, either way, you’re in luck—John Harrison at TheLargestMinority.com has put together a blow-by-blow video montage and summary for your viewing and reading pleasure. Go to the inside page to check it all out.

Barack Obama’s campaign reached out to supporters on Monday, attempting to downplay national polls that show Hillary Clinton gaining more of a lead. Campaign manager David Plouffe said Obama is still doing well in the key primary states, despite a seven-point bump nationally for Hillary.

Among the endless reasons I will never run for public office is a deep-seated fear of having my wardrobe subject to the fashion police. Excuse me, the fashion shrinks—those media monitors who seek deep meaning in every shoe, sexual clues in every hemline, and psychological insights in every shirt collar.